The GSR Kawasaki of Julien da Costa, Olivier Four and Grégory Leblanc won the first round of the 2010 Qtel FIM Endurance World Championship, with an eleven laps gap over the Yamaha Austria Racing Team of Gwen Giabbani, Igor Jerman and Steve Plater. No one could deprive the official Kawasaki to put once again their name on the walls of one of the main world endurance race. The previous victory of Kawasaki at the 24 Hours of Le Mans was in 1999. The last hours of race were difficult for Yamaha Austria Racing Team, who was affected by some overheating problems since the middle of the night and had to come back for pit stops more often than not. However, the 2009 Qtel FIM Endurance World Champion managed to keep the RAC 41 City Bike of Gregory Junod, Greg Black and Olivier Depoorter four laps behind. This is a well-deserved podium for the Suzuki, who did a faultless race and took advantage of the problems affecting their challengers. This 33rd edition of Le Mans offers then a tri-color podium, as far as the manufacturers, Kawasaki, Yamaha and Suzuki, as well as the tyre suppliers, Pirelli, Michelin and Dunlop, are concerned. Next on the podium is the Yamaha France GMT 94 Ipone of David Checa, Gregorio Lavilla and Kenny Foray did finally a better race than expected. They were short of time to develop the bike and carry on more tyre development with Bridgestone, and the Yamaha GMT 94 was never seen in the front of the race. “We could not race for victory”, said GMT 94 team-manager Christophe Guyot, “but we are very happy to cross the finish line as we did not finish the previous two editions”. The Suzuki RT Moto Virus of Frédéric Jond, Eric Mizera and William Grare took a fantastic fifth place ahead of the Kawasaki Bolliger Team Switzerland of Horst Saiger, Roman Stamm and Frédéric Chabosseau. The Swiss Kawasaki team was expecting a spot onto the podium but they had to give away their third place as a clutch problem occurred around 11 am. After a rather quiet night, the morning was full of surprises. The Honda National Motos, who was, long before the Kawasaki Bolliger, in third position, had to deal with many technical problems, a crash that damaged the engine, and on top of that, some fire took place on the bike during a pit stop. They managed to get back on track for a last lap under the chequered flag, and finished the race in 31st position and 14th EWC. Same story for the Suzuki Team 18 Sapeurs Pompiers, in fourth place before some transmission problem and a broken engine case stopped their race. In the Superstock class, the Suzuki of Qatar Endurance Racing Team took their first Le Mans class victory. Anthony Delhalle, Alex Cudlin and Rashid Al Mannai had to fight hard for that. The QERT took advantage of the fact that the Suzuki Motor Events of Vincent Bocquet, Emilien Humeau and Gérald Muteau, which was promised to a class victory, was then involved in a accident with another machine. The BMW Colexon of Florian Kresse, Marc Wildisen and Udo Reischman completes the Superstock podium. The pace was very high during the first four hours of the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The beginning was the race was animated by Vincent Philippe on the SERT Suzuki, who made the holeshot, but they were out of the race after two hours. Back on track at a slow pace after a crash, Guillaume Dietrich could not be avoided by Victor Carrasco on the Yamaha BK Maco Moto Racing Team. The two machines were completely destroyed from the crash. The BMW Michelin of Sébastien Gimbert, Erwan Nigon and Bertrand Stey retired around 11 am. In fifth place after three hours of race, the bike was delayed by a faulty water hose and then from some very strong electrics problems. However, Sébastien Gimbert set a new race record with a lap in 1’38.425. The Honda Michelin Power Research Team also gave up before midnight, as their engine broke down. In the top 10 in the first set of laps, the Honda Michelin PRT lost contact from the early race as Josep Monge crashed and some front brake problems occurred. The Suzuki AM Moto Racing also retired in the beginning of the night. The Suzuki 110 was well placed in the top 10 from the beginning of the race. Same disappointment for the RMT 21 and Folch Endurance. The German Honda (frame damaged after a crash) and the Spanish Yamaha (mechanical problem) left the race at the same time. The race was also disastrous for many bikes from the Superstock class. The Yamaha X-One, who were holding a solid third place, had to give up as the chain broke down and damaged the engine case. The Suzuki Endurance Moto 45 retired before 9 am as Alexandre Lagrive crashed. The Yamaha LTG 57 stopped the race at 7:30 pm, with a broken engine resulting from a leaking radiator. After facing serious brakes problems, the BMW Penz13.com had to retire after Matti Seidel crashed Saturday evening. Same stories Saturday evening from Suzuki MCS Racing Ipone (broken engine) and the Suzuki No Limits (riders injured). The second round of the 2010 Qtel FIM Endurance World Championship will take place on the 22nd of May in Spain, for the 8 Hours of Albacete. More, from a press release issued by Honda: World Championship Class results Le Mans 24H 2010 Pos / Team / Riders / Bike / Time / Laps / Gap 1 / GSR – KAWASAKI / DA COSTA J – FOUR O – LEBLANC G / KAWASAKI /24:00:47.253 / 828 2 / YAMAHA AUSTRIA R.T. / JERMAN I – MARTIN ST – GIABBANI G / YAMAHA / 24:02:22.100 /817 / 11 T 3 / RAC41 – CITY BIKE / JUNOD G – BLACK G – DEPOORTER O / SUZUKI /24:00:52.743 / 813 / 15 T 4 / YAMAHA FRANCE GMT 94 IPONE / CHECA D – LAVILLA G – FORAY K / YAMAHA /24:01:17.063 / 808 / 20 T 5 / R.T. MOTOVIRUS RACING / JOND F – MIZERA E – GRARRE W / SUZUKI /24:01:10.368 / 803 / 25 T 6 / BOLLIGER TEAM / SAIGER H – STAMM F – CHABOSSEAU F / KAWASAKI /24:02:21.683 / 802 / 26 T 7 / INFINI POWER BIKE TROYES / DUPUIS E – HOLUB F – HIERNAUX K / KAWASAKI /24:00:55.661 / 793 / 35 T 8 / BMP ELF 99 RACING TEAM / DAEMEN W – CUDLIN D – LAGRIVE M / HONDA / 24:01:59.630 /780 / 48 T 9 / MOTOBOX KREMER / SCHERRER M – GAZIELLO F – PAAVILAINEN T / SUZUKI / 24:00:57.085/ 775 / 53 T 10 / TEAM FLEMBBO / JARDIN T – GUYOT T – BARBANCON X / YAMAHA /24:01:05.513 / 773 / 55 T 11 / TEAM FMA ASSURANCES / KIPP M – ROUICHI F – BOULANGE G / HONDA /24:01:32.713 / 754 / 74 T 12 / TEAM ALFS / MONTANO T – BARTON J – GODFREY M / KAWASAKI /24:01:28.057 / 747 / 81 T 13 / TEAM 18 SAPEURS-POMPIERS / MOLINIER ST – BRIERE D – TANGRE J / SUZUKI /24:01:10.860 / 698 / 130 T 14 / NATIONAL MOTOS HONDA / JONCHIERE E – SCARNATO S – BARRIER S / HONDA /24:01:02.291 / 669 / 159 T 15 / TRACK TEAM ZONE ROUGE / CUYPERS PH – VAN DEN BROECK W – LE GRELLE F / YAMAHA / 24:02:05.466 / 661 / 167 T Fastest lap: BMW-MICHELIN on lap 122 1:38.425 153,071Km/h Results SST Class Le Mans 24 H Pos / Team / Riders / Bike / Time / Laps / Gap 1 / Q.E.R.T. I / DELHALLE A – CUDLIN A – AL MANNAI R / SUZUKI /24:03:31.372 / 801 / 2 / TEAM MOTORS EVENTS / BOCQUET V – HUMEAU E – MUTEAU G / SUZUKI /24:03:33.335 / 797 / 4 T 3 / COLEXON RACING TEAM / KRESSE FL – WILDISEN M – REICHMANN U / BMW / 24:00:48.186 /790 / 11 T 4 / TRT27 / BAZAR 2 LA BECANE / BUISSON D – MASSON E – HOUSSIN V / SUZUKI /24:00:55.280 / 789 / 12 T 5 / 3D ENDURANCE MOTO CENTER / DANTON J – GEERS CH – LABUSSIERE E / KAWASAKI /24:02:03.576 / 785 / 16 T 6 / ATOMIC MOTOSPORT / SAINZ ZOZAYA J – ULMANN O – LERAT VANSTAEN P / SUZUKI /24:02:31.847 / 782 / 19 T 7 / RACING TEAM SARAZIN / GUEROUAH CH – LUCAS C – GENETAY J PH / KAWASAKI /24:01:04.851 / 775 / 26 T 8 / JUNIOR TEAM SUZUKI LMS / TANGRE C – DE CAROLIS L – GUITTET B / SUZUKI /24:02:27.254 / 771 / 30 T 9 / CORDOBA PATRIMONIO HUMANIDAD / SAINZ DE LA MAZA D – VALERA J – SANZ S / KAWASAKI / 24:01:47.941 / 768 / 33 T 10 / STAND 41 / ADRENATEAM / DUPREZ N – GUERIN F – DIGUET J / SUZUKI / 24:00:47.855 / 757 / 44 T 11 / TEAM R2CL / CHAUSSE R – DE LAVILLE MONBAZON C – BARATIN A / SUZUKI /24:00:54.197 / 753 / 48 T 12 / SH TECHNOLOGIE / ROYER H – POUHAIR N – FORAY J / YAMAHA /24:00:54.575 / 750 / 51 T 13 / Q.E.R.T. II / AL NAIMI SM – AL MALKI NH – AL MALKI Y / SUZUKI /24:02:02.966 / 748 / 53 T 14 / AZ MOTO EXPERT / KOKES ST – MEZARD ST – BARD J / SUZUKI /24:02:08.309 / 742 / 59 T 15 / ANDALUCIA BMW / MOLINA A – HEDELIN C – ROSIVALL A / BMW /24:01:42.219 / 740 / 61 T 16 / HONDA SUD OUEST / BAROUILLET G – SEVIGNE E – DUPOND S / HONDA /24:01:41.273 / 738 / 63 T 17 / FULL GAS RACING TEAM / BOUE M – LEROYER A – PATAULT PH / KAWASAKI / 24:02:32.507 / 637 / 164 T Fastest lap: Q.E.R.T. I on lap 146 1:40.657 149,677Km/h